Immokalee drubs Cape, 54-7, ending ‘Hawks’ season

November 26, 2011

Cape Coral head football coach Brad Methany knew he had his hands full going into Friday's second round playoff game with Immokalee.

Horrible matchups and an equally horrible drubbing in the regular season guaranteed a long night for the Seahawks on both sides of the ball.

It was a long night, and only a running clock in the second half kept it from getting longer as the Cowboys got a monster night from junior quarterback Tshumbi Johnson (and from his younger brother, D'ernst, for that matter) in a 54-7 win over the Seahawks to advance to the regional finals next week against Palmetto, which beat Hardee.

Immokalee recorded 565 yards of total offense while holding Cape to one yard rushing and 182 total yards.

"They were just a better team. You have to give them credit. We just didn't match up well," Methany said. "We had five starters at 50 or 60 percent and they were better at the skill positions and up front."

The Seahawks (7-5) had no answer for Johnson, who threw for 340 yards and four touchdowns on just 10 of 13 passing, ran for two more scores and added two interceptions on defense, all in the first half, to give the Cowboys a 41-0 halftime lead.

"Everyone thought we would make a run next year," Johnson said. "We really have to step it up next week and not take Palmetto lightly. We just need to play physical and play Immokalee football."

Immokalee (11-1), which got a scare from Lehigh last week, got right to business in front of a bipartisan Cape crowd. Jacky Marcellus caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to make it 7-0 less than two minutes in, with Johnson adding his first running TD a few minutes late to make it 14-0.

Cape had to throw to try to keep up, but junior quarterback Kurt Benkert's best chance at a first half score was snuffed by Johnson's first interception, who then found Marcellus again on a 40-yard touchdown strike for a 21-0 lead.

Johnson ran another one in, found Xavier Richardson with a 61-yard TD pass and threw a 75-yard strike to Joslin Alberique to extend the lead to 41-0 as Benkert was picked three times, Marcellus grabbing the third one.

"We were not happy last week. We put an emphasis on practice this week and came out an executed on offense and defense," Immokalee head coach Jerrod Ackley said.

Benkert was 12 for 29 passing for 181 yards, the bulk of it came when he found junior receiver J.D. Irons late in the third quarter with a 78-yard touchdown to put Cape Coral on the scoreboard.

Irons had four catches for 124 yards, while junior Rashaan Gaymon had two interceptions.

"We're young. We're gonna get better. There are things we have to do against better teams," Methany said about his team's prospects going forward. "We're thin and need more depth. We need to put the time in and get better next year."